response # 4

CHANGETACKLING CLIMATE

HERE COMES THE FLOOD ... AND IT CAN MAKE CITIES FLOURISH

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NEW ROADS TO CLIMATE FINANCING

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DISTRICT HEATING IS GETTING COOLER

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CONTENT

RESPONSE ISSUE 04

04 HERE COMES THE FLOOD … AND IT CAN MAKE CITIES FLOURISH

Cities can turn things upside down and start capitalising on extreme rainfalls by adapting cleverly.

09 EXPERT COLUMNEnhancing blue-green infrastructure in grey urban areas.

10 WEATHER FORECAST: MORE PERMANENT DROUGHTS

We may not be able to control the weather, but with engineering we can control how water flows.

13 BATTLING EXTREME WEATHER IN ASIA

A new study will identify the most effective adaptation and funding options.

14 MORE FEMALE ENGINEERS COULD HELP SOLVE THE CLIMATE CHALLENGE

A more equal gender balance is key in the battle against global warming, suggests a roundtable report.

18 NEW ROADS TO CLIMATE FINANCING

Lack of public funding is making cities turn to new and alternative ways of financing long-term solutions.

23 CLEVER CITIES COLLABORATEThe Compact of Mayors has made it easier for cities to learn from each other.

24 THE CLIMATE-FRIENDLY CITYIt is possible to achieve economic growth while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions significantly.

26 FROM SILO MENTALITY TO HOLISM

We need to replace patchwork solutions with all-inclusive masterplans.

29 LIGHT RAIL – A CLIMATE SOLUTION DRIVER

It’s getting easier to change motorists’ car use.

30 DISTRICT HEATING IS GETTING COOLER

Cogenerating heat and electricity lowers costs and carbon emissions.

34 LET THE SUNSHINE INInvestment in solar power will far outweigh spending on fossil fuels.

36 GREENING ENERGY PLANTSHeat and power plants are being converted from coal to biomass.

39 WE CRACKED IT!Heat-pump-driven condensation is now cost-effective at waste-to-energy plants.

Cover:Chicago Lakeside, USA, where a masterplan won the Sustainia Community Award. Ramboll proposed a design concept that will reduce fossil energy use by 90%, and approximately 90% of the stormwater will be infiltrated and directed to Lake Michigan.

RESPONSE ISSUE 04 TACKLING CLIMATE CHANGE2

EDITORIAL

Response is Ramboll’s magazine covering global agendas and local solutions. Please share your ideas, insights and feedback with us at: [email protected]

Editor-in-Chief: Michael RothenborgHead of Department: Kasper Westphal Pedersen Project Manager: Merete Audrey LastheinGroup Director, Corporate Communications & Branding: Morten Peick (resp.)Art Direction & Design: Tor Slotmann

Writers: Kristine Bahrenholdt Bruun, Morten Lund, Jesper Toft Madsen, Ina Johanne Mønsted, Michael Rothenborg. Print edition: 9,000 copiesDigital edition available at www.ramboll.com

Photo credits: Scanpix, Polfoto, Dreamstime, GettyImages, Goldman Sachs, Realdania, City of Copenhagen/Christian Lindgren, Kokkedal Municipality, Atelier Dreiseitl, Tom Good, Ramboll.Cover: GettyImages

This issue of Response focuses on tackling climate change.The UN and national governments cannot

fight the climate challenge by themselves. By 2030, 60% of the world population will be living in urban areas, and cities play an integral role in global climate adaption and mitigation. But how can urban decision makers move from this realisation to actual solutions?

Planning for an uncertain future is an ungrateful task, and the financing alone can cause headaches for city administrations. However, the cost of inaction is not zero: It is more expensive to let cloudbursts and other extreme weather events simply strike than to develop a climate-resilient and sustainable city that has substantial added value in welfare and urban liveability.

City officials need to view climate changes like frequent heatwaves and extreme rainfalls as not only threats but also opportunities to co-create more liveable, recreational spaces. If cities engage citizens, partner with businesses and define a clear strategy, they can develop holistic, multifunctional solutions that will ignite a transition towards green growth.

At Ramboll, we have already witnessed it. Working with cities as diverse as Copenhagen, Jeddah, Singapore and Chicago, we know that it takes careful urban planning and good governance to ensure social coherence, environmental sustainability and economic growth.

As you will discover when browsing through this climate issue of Response, many cities have already shown an inspiring level of commitment to improve these areas and invest in advanced mobility solutions, resource optimisation and climate adaptation and mitigation.

Meanwhile, cities and their advisors cannot take on the climate challenge by themselves, either.

The full potential around the world can only be unlocked if governments make an ambitious global commitment to join the battle.

The environmental, social and economic motivations for engaging in climate solutions must be defined and aligned between stakeholders. The global commitment cannot be up for discussion every time a new national government takes office. Cities need an assurance that transcends national politics and provides authorities and companies with a solid framework for planning, collaboration and action.

The climate negotiations at COP21 and beyond must give the world a clear, long-term mandate to act. Only then can cities continue to demonstrate how liveability and growth are a product of climate action.

Let’s talk solutions.

Jens-Peter SaulGroup CEO

LET’S TALK SOLUTIONS

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HERE COMES THE FLOOD …Extreme rainfalls deluge our streets and overwhelm our drainage systems, resulting in costly cleanups. But by adapting cleverly, cities can turn this around and start capitalising on stormwater.

After the cloudburst of August 2010, several

residents of this street in Kokkedal found themselves

up to their hips in water.

100 mmON AUGUST 14-15, 2010, KOKKEDAL RECEIVED MORE THAN 100 MM OF

RAIN IN JUST 24 HOURS. MORE THAN THE AVERAGE FOR THE

WHOLE OF AUGUST


An August evening in 2010, Thomas Lykke Pedersen, the Mayor of Fredensborg Municipality north of Copenhagen,

Denmark, was on his way home when heavy rain started to submerge the streets. He decided to leave the car, dragging himself through knee-deep water to a residential area with flooded gardens and water gushing from the sewers. As the mayor helped a young girl move a television and stereo to the safety of her home’s upper storey, he realised that something had to be done to prevent this from happening again.

“It was the heaviest rainfall on record in Kokkedal and a terrible eye-opener. We had to evacuate some of our residents. In retrospect, I wish we had started to climate-adapt the town much earlier,” the mayor says as he looks back at the 2010 event.

THE BLUE AND GREEN GARDEN CITY

Today, Kokkedal, a town in Fredensborg Municipality, has undertaken Denmark’s largest climate adaptation plan to date, called the Blue-Green Garden City. It is a project that not only safeguards against water damage but also manages to capitalise on stormwater and use it for aesthetic, social, and health-promoting purposes.

Jens Veggerby, a climate adaptation and flooding expert at Ramboll Water and head engineer on the Blue-Green Garden City project, explains:

“We handle the rainwater on the surface and use it for aesthetic and recreational purposes. Crucial parts of the adaptation plan are the expansion of an existing stream, the restoration of the original water cycle, and the creation of a delta to make the water flow through the city.”

Together with a team of landscape architects from Schønherr and engineering consultants from Ramboll, Jens Veggerby is working to transform

Kokkedal into a resilient town through ecosystem-based adaptation or so-called blue and green infrastructure.

Kokkedal is far from being an isolated case. Cities around the globe are developing adaptation plans to deal with the consequences of climate change. And for good reason. The UN Climate Change Strategy 2014-2019 projects that rising sea levels, heavier rains, inland flooding, stronger storms and more extreme temperatures are going to have a global impact on the hundreds of millions of people living in urban areas vulnerable to climate change.

ADDING MORE VALUE TO CLIMATE ADAPTATION

According to the UN Climate Change Strategy, the world’s cities cannot avoid adapting to climate change, but how should they go about it? And

… AND IT CAN MAKE CITIES FLOURISHBy Kristine Barenholdt Bruun

“It was the heaviest rainfall on record and a terrible eye-opener … In retrospect, I wish we had started to climate-adapt the town much earlier.”

Thomas Lykke PedersenMayor, Fredensborg, Denmark

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how can they add value beyond the obvious climate benefits?

Luna Khirfan, Professor of Urban Planning and Design at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, explains:

“Every context suffers from different vulnerabilities. That said, I endorse any approach that works with the ecosystem and provides solutions that cities can capitalise on, for example, by harvesting rainwater or adding green surfaces instead of hard non-porous surfaces like asphalt and concrete that not only capture and reflect heat, but also exacerbate flooding.”

She continues: “An ecosystem-based approach improves

the quality of life since more greenery creates more comfortable, recreational and aesthetically pleasing spaces. Ultimately, it has a positive impact on the community, encouraging people to enjoy their public spaces and feel a greater sense of civic pride and cohesion through their common enjoyment of well-designed public spaces.”

WHEN WATER CREATES COMMUNITY SPIRIT

In Kokkedal, residents are grappling with more than the severe consequences of heavy rains. The run-down town is socially divided and has a reputation as an area with juvenile crime. To address these problems, the town has made social cohesion and safety a crucial element of its climate adaptation plans, using water and greenery to establish outdoor areas that can bring people together and give the area a much-needed boost.

“Creating attractive areas, more interaction between citizens and open spaces that feel safe are the cornerstone of the adaptation plan. At the same time, we hope our citizens will have something to be proud of and a positive story to tell about our town,” says Mayor Thomas Lykke Pedersen.

Professor Khirfan sees Kokkedal as a prime example of a clever, ecosystem-based approach to adaptation, because it focuses on dealing with

The climate project will give Kokkedal’s residents an opportunity to interact more with nature.Visualisation: Schønherr /Bjarke Ingels BIG /Ramboll Danmark

The children of Kokkedal will have a water playground when the project is finished. Visualisation: Schønherr /Bjarke Ingels BIG /Ramboll Danmark

“I endorse any approach that works with the ecosystem and provides solutions that cities can capitalise on.”

Luna Khirfan Professor of Urban Planning and Design, University of Waterloo, Ontario


surface rainwater through greenery, lakes, stream restoration and stormwater basins – all features that create more value for both residents and the ecosystem. Kokkedal is giving itself an extra layer of blue and green infrastructure – a fourth dimension of water and greenery that ensures both climate adaptation and aesthetically pleasing recreational areas.

Jens Veggerby, Ramboll’s head engineer on the Kokkedal project, agrees that it makes good sense

to see rain as an asset rather than a liability. “Water is a valuable resource, and climate

change adaptation is about minimising negative impacts and capitalising on the possible opportunities,” Jens Veggerby explains, continuing:

“One of our big concerns is to establish a visual and social connection between water in parks and residential areas by making the water branch out between the buildings, which is visually appealing. Such solutions also enhance the ecosystem, property prices, social cohesion and well-being.”

SEIZING GREEN AND BLUE POSSIBILITIES

In Kokkedal, the first phase of the climate adaptation project has already been completed. Mayor Thomas Lykke Pedersen strolls through the large green and blue recreational area with its restored stream, crossing a wooden bridge over one of the newly established retention basins. The basin perfectly resembles a natural lake, replete with tall reeds and rushes, insects buzzing on the water surface and small fish swimming beneath. Stopping on the bridge, he points to a cluster of homes located close to the climate-adapted area:

“These are the houses that were most damaged in 2010. We’ve now built a dike and widened the water into a broader river with double profile. Hopefully, this will prevent our town from re-experiencing the damage we suffered in 2010,” he says as he steps off the bridge onto the newly constructed footpath.

The mayor walks another few hundred metres to the end of the blue-green area, entering a residential area built of drab concrete and asphalt:

“We haven’t started on this area yet, but when it’s finished in 2017, the water will be detained here and branch out between these houses, and new greenery and cherry trees will be planted. I think it will make the citizens of Kokkedal proud,” he says.

The children of Kokkedal will have a water playground when the project is finished. Visualisation: Schønherr /Bjarke Ingels BIG /Ramboll Danmark

ADVANTAGES OF BLUE-GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE

• Lowers the costs of damage resulting from extreme weather events.

• Protects lives that might be endangered if the threats of extreme weather events fail to be minimised.

• Decreases the costs of private property maintenance and insurance.

• Alleviates the negative impacts of climate change at the micro-level – for example, by adding greenery rather than surfaces like asphalt and concrete, which capture and reflect heat.

• Replenishes valuable resources, for example, when rainwater runoff is channelled to replenish underground aquifers.

• Enhances the awareness of local communities and teaches them about climate change.

• Enhances inhabitants’ quality of life by improving their aesthetic and practical experience of their surroundings. This also encourages local communities to enjoy their public spaces and creates a greater sense of civic pride and cohesion in the community.

Sources:Professor Luna Khirfan, University of Waterloo, Ontario. IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources).

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CREATING SPONGE CITIES IN CHINA

A masterplan for an 11,9 km2 district in the Chinese mega-city Shenzhen will transform the area into a more liveable, ecological urban realm with integrated stormwater management. The adaptation underpins the Chinese government’s plan to create so-called sponge cities that reuse up to 70% of stormwater through decentralised, site-specific water management. The water is used for various purposes, such as recharging depleted aquifers and irrigating gardens and urban farms.

No other country has embraced the idea of sponge cities as enthusiastically as China, perhaps because few countries are wrestling as painfully as China with the dual problems of rapid urbanisation and poor water management. China has chosen 16 urban districts across the country, including Shenzhen, to become pilot sponge cities.

AESTHETIC TRANSFORMATION IN BISHAN-ANG MO KIO PARK, SINGAPORE

Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park is one of the most popular parks in the heartland of Singapore. As part of a much-needed upgrade and plans to improve the capacity of the Kallang channel along the park perimeter, the utilitarian concrete channel was transformed into a naturalised river that runs through the park.

Sixty-two hectares of parkland have been redesigned to accommodate the dynamic process of a river system with fluctuating water levels, while also providing maximum benefit for park users. This project is part of Singapore’s Active, Beautiful, Clean Waters Programme, a long-term initiative to transform the country’s expanses of water beyond their functions as drainage and water supply into vibrant, new spaces for community bonding and recreation.

RE-ESTABLISHING WETLANDS IN PORTLAND

Rail yards and industry once drained this area of Portland, Oregon. Today, Tanner Springs Park uses sustainable stormwater management to create a space reminding of the natural wetlands that were once here. Stormwater runoff is fed into a pond and pumped back up to a spring, thus creating a natural cleansing system.

Portland’s grey to green initiative estimates that if the programme achieves its goals for green roofs, green streets and urban trees, the city will need to pump and process much less stormwater, enough to save roughly 275,000 kilowatt hours a year.

SMART ADAPTATION WORLDWIDE

Like the park project in Singapore, the Portland project was carried out by Ramboll Studio Dreiseitl (then Atelier Dreiseitl) and local partners.


The traditional grey approach to urban infrastructure is neither a solution to water-related problems induced by urbanisation,

density and surface sealing, nor a way to mobilise all the potential benefits connected with water as a feature of people’s living environment. Obviously, blue-green infrastructure (BGI) offers urban regions a feasible, more valuable solution to the challenges of climate change in the future.

This column focuses on the benefits and added values stemming from BGI, especially its impact on improving social life and human-environmental relations.

From an overall perspective beyond individual projects and their specific local conditions, we have identified a range of significant benefits of (well-designed) BGI solutions and compared them with traditional grey ones. BGI solutions follow the idea of creating multiple utilities.

• BGI is a very important water-related eco-system service provider as it: 1) helps to recharge the urban groundwater aquifer, 2) balances the water regime, also by reducing peak discharge of stormwater runoff and sustaining base flow rates, 3) reduces soil erosion and nutrient destruction, 4) reduces instream disturbances and 5) provides stormwater runoff cleansing to improve water quality.

• BGI is a driver for biodiversity as it improves rich biotopes and landscape connectivity, protects aquatic ecosystems and creates biodiversity-rich zones to improve flora and fauna.

• BGI works as a moderator for urban climate as it reduces urban heat island effects, balances the day-night temperature regime and supports air ventilation. Furthermore, it reduces the biophysical impacts of land cover changes as well as the risks of urban soil dry-out and air pollution like dust.

• BGI increases the adaptability and resilience of urban infrastructure by improving water management functions and the capacity of mitigation to handle the growing risks of climate change, including weather extremes.

• The provision of BGI often improves human physical and mental health because it upgrades space for recreation, exercise and social activities. BGI thus saves health costs (two to five times lower costs than with grey solutions).

• BGI supports biophilia – people’s affiliation with nature – as it connects people with natural forms,

elements or processes, with recursive effects on people’s health and willingness to protect nature.

• BGI supports social interaction and integration as it increases the tendency to use open spaces for group activities and the commitment to spend time with families and friends.

• BGI enhances a city’s reputation as it signals a city’s overall attractiveness and liveability and enhances the reputation of a city’s governmental institutions for focusing on residents’ living conditions.

• BGI increases property values by improving the social and aesthetic attractiveness of the surrounding land and buildings and therefore its real-estate value.

• BGI reduces stormwater management costs dramatically in a holistic and long-term perspective compared to merely monofunctional grey infrastructure.

Despite these impressive benefits compared to traditional grey solutions, blue-green infrastructure is still far from the standard for urban water management.

In early 2016 the Ramboll Foundation will release a more detailed report on the overall societal impact of BGI, the constraints of and conditions supportive to BGI implementation and practical recommendations. Based on a research project at the Zeppelin University in Germany, the National University of Singapore, and MIT and Harvard University in the USA, funded by the Ramboll Foundation and headed by the Ramboll Liveable Cities Lab (LCL). Edited by Herbert Dreiseitl (LCL), Bettina Wanschura (LCL), Matthias Wörlen (ZU), Manfred Moldaschl (ZU) and James Wescoat (MIT).

EXPERT COLUMNENHANCING BLUE-GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE IN GREY URBAN AREAS

Herbert Dreiseitl

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A s reservoirs run dry, crops are abandoned and cities work to meet mandatory water cuts, drought-weary Californians are

counting on a saviour from the Pacific: El Niño.The periodical warming of the tropical part of

the ocean could well bring heavy precipitation to parts of California this winter (2015-16), but it will not change the new climate reality that confronts the state.

This is the conclusion reached by a prominent group of scientists, headed by Alton Park Williams of Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, whose findings were published recently in the scientific journal Geophysical Research Letters.

Droughts have always plagued California – as so compellingly depicted in works like John Steinbeck’s book ‘Grapes of Wrath’ or Roman Polanski’s film ‘Chinatown’.

But the UN Climate Panel and countless other scientists warn that climate change will worsen droughts in drought-prone regions, even rendering some areas permanently arid.

Another recent study on California – published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) – shows that global warming has

doubled the odds of the hot, dry conditions that are intensifying and prolonging the current drought. This drought now holds the record not only for lowest precipitation and highest temperature but

WEATHER FORECAST: MORE PERMANENT DROUGHTS

Much less rain and snow has become the norm in many areas around the world. The latest studies conclude that California will be among the regions hardest hit by water scarcity. We may not be able to control the weather, but with engineering we can control how water flows.

By Michael Rothenborg

“Our delegation benefited greatly from what we learned in Copenhagen about the interplay between smart infrastructure investment and high-tech conservation practices.”

Fran PavleySenator, California.


Aerial view showing low water level of South

Lake reservoir, California, caused by drought.

also for the lowest spring snowpack in the Sierra Nevada in at least 500 years.

“These changing odds make it much more likely that similar conditions will occur again, exacerbating other stresses on agriculture, ecosystems and people,” conclude the scientists behind the PNAS study, Noah S. Diffenbaugh, an associate professor of earth system science at Stanford University, and Christopher B. Field, Director of the Department of Global Ecology at the Carnegie Institution for Science.

The scientists unanimously recommend that governments enhance the climate resilience of their countries and build protection for the future.

COLLECTING RAINWATER

But what can we do to change the weather if rain dancing or cloud-busting are improbable options?

Not much. But the experts point out that we can affect how water flows.

In fact, saving water would be the most efficient means of increasing the water supply, especially if the agro industry lowered the tremendous amounts of water it consumes. For example, California currently produces more than 80% of

the world’s almonds, and each little nut takes four litres of water to grow.

However, water conservation is much more politically controversial in the USA than in Europe, and increasing or introducing other restrictive measures would be likely to result in legal action.

“Therefore, you have to resort to collecting rainwater, for example,” says Søren Hvilshøj, Global Market Director of Ramboll Water, who has project experience from more than 40 countries around the world.

Having visited California this autumn (2015), Søren Hvilshøj has seen the almost empty reservoirs and other signs of the drought first-hand. American experts are tackling the problem,

1,200 yearsSINCE CALIFORNIA

HAD A DROUGHT WORSETHAN THE CURRENT

ONE (2015)*

*According to oak tree rings analysis from University of Minnesota and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

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And prominent politicians in California are listening:

“As chair of the California State Senate’s Natural Resources and Water Committee, I was quite interested in tapping Ramboll’s expertise in water and energy sustainability,” says senator Fran Pavley, who visited Ramboll’s Head Office in Copenhagen this September (2015).

“California is facing a fourth year of record drought, and our delegation benefited greatly from what we learned in Copenhagen about the interplay between smart infrastructure investment and high-tech conservation practices. The combination can help us adapt to climate changes,” the Senator observes.

but he believes Scandinavian experts also have a lot to offer.

Scandinavian companies have gained a lot of experience collecting and using surface water rather than letting it run off in sewers – as is the tradition in the USA.

Ramboll, for example, has carried out much of the Danish National Groundwater Mapping Programme, an initiative encompassing multidisciplinary hydrogeological projects.

“So, first, we can conduct 3D-surveys to identify where collecting surface water is cost-effective. We understand the geology and how to measure and prevent contamination risks. Second, we’ve done many holistic projects in Sweden, Finland, Romania and now also Dubai, where rainwater from roads or big parking lots is collected and filtered, so it ends up as potable groundwater,” explains Søren Hvilshøj.

The city of Porvoo, Finland.

WATER FROM ALTERNATIVE SOURCES

Porvoo is one of the Finnish cities that is benefitting from the production of artificial groundwater. The city’s groundwater quality was poor for many years, its content becoming high in iron and manganese.

With Ramboll’s help, Porvoo has therefore built an artificial groundwater plant with a five-km pipeline to the regulated lake Myllykylänjärvi, where water can be stored. The plant can infiltrate and produce six million litres of water per day, which helps give the citizens of Porvoo good quality water all year-round, even in dry summers.

The Swedish town of Skellefteå is running a similar project, the largest of its kind in the country. The town’s inhabitants get their drinking water directly

from the local river, but pollution and other factors have affected water quality over the past decades. To combat this problem, the local authority is building new treatment facilities.

Ramboll is also helping to improve access to safe drinking water in Dubai through the development of an aquifer storage and recovery facility within a 700-km2 area. One of the first steps in the project is a feasibility study on the hydrogeological conditions required to store significant amounts of desalinated water and to recover the stored water at a high efficiency rate.


T yphoons, extreme seas, heatwaves and flooding all figure in the harsh outlook for the Asia Pacific region, the Earth’s most

vulnerable to global warming.In 2015, the Asian Development Bank took

action, funding a study of six cities, all with a current population of 750,000 or more, aimed at identifying ways of building resilience to climate change and determining the associated costs, benefits and funding.

The end goal is to invest efficiently in a comprehensive low-carbon adaptation plan that focuses on people and health, thus reducing carbon emissions and increasing resilience.

BUILDING RESILIENCE INTO INFRASTRUCTURE

Despite economic growth, much of Asia continues to grapple with an infrastructure deficit and is struggling to provide power, water and transport systems to meet population needs. For this reason, the study prioritises solutions that include infrastructure and building requirements as part of the overall adaptation process.

“Many of these cities are in emerging economies with massive infrastructure, pollution and efficiency needs, which is why it makes good sense to combine core future infrastructure needs and climate resilience”, says Stella Whittaker from Ramboll Environ, who works with sustainability and climate change and is a leading force on the study.

FINANCING ADAPTATION THROUGH FUNDING AND GREEN BONDS

Intended to prevent financial barriers to action, the study will largely focus on how to finance the much-needed adaptation:

“One of the things we will be looking at is climate or green bonds. Using such mechanisms will ensure that investment goes through an independent vetting process and that the funding goes to environmentally friendly projects. The benefits of the projects support both reductions of greenhouse gas emissions and society development at large”, Stella Whittaker explains.

Ramboll and CLIMsystems, which provides advanced modelling systems for assessing climate impacts, will be working closely on the study, slated for completion in-mid 2016.

By Kristine Barenholdt Bruun

BATTLING EXTREME WEATHER IN ASIA

Citizens in coastal regions of Asia could face some of the worst effects of global warming. A new study has been launched to identify the most effective adaptation and funding options to create the strongest resilience possible.

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As politicians take centre stage at the UN climate negotiations, the engineering community is already turning words into action. A more equal gender balance and self-regulated industries are key in the battle against climate change, suggests a roundtable report.

Swati Garg is a project manager at the Ramboll Engineering Centre in Gurgaon, India. She was the first in her family to get into engineering.“Not many women were in the profession back in the nineties when I

became a civil engineer. The demanding infrastructure needs and institutional structure of the areas in and around me inspired me to get

into the profession,” Swati Garg says.

MORE FEMALE ENGINEERS COULD HELPSOLVE THE CLIMATE CHALLENGE


By Morten Lund

“We must be grateful for the praiseworthy efforts being made by scientists and engineers

dedicated to finding solutions to man-made problems.”

Although most engineers are probably more interested in thermodynamics and structural loads than the Vatican’s blessing, these words expressed by Pope Francis in his June 2015 manifesto on climate change were a remarkable acknowledgement of the crucial role the engineering community plays in combatting climate change.

Politicians are indisputably the main actors at the COP21 summit in Paris and the subsequent climate negotiations, but while they and other policy makers remain preoccupied with wording and commas, engineers around the world are already turning words into action.

For instance, the Institution of Engineers, Singapore (IES) has turned roundtable discussions from the World Engineers Summit on Climate Change, held in Singapore in July 2015, into a new report showcasing the industry’s best practices and possible solutions for building climate change resilience.

The report can be viewed as a business-sector contribution to the ongoing UN climate negotiations and is being presented at COP21 by engineer Seng Chuan Tan, Ramboll Environ’s regional managing director for Asia-Pacific and vice president of the World Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO), which represents 20 million engineers across all disciplines in more than 90 countries.

MORE WOMEN, PLEASE

The IES report focuses strongly on the role of women in building climate resilience. Although, unfortunately, the number of female engineers remains low, they could directly strengthen the climate resilience of any society, the report notes.

“Because the engineering profession is traditionally dominated by men, not many women are studying engineering. We want to encourage more women to get into engineering and bring the leadership role from their homes into the engineering community. They could be role models in many regards, for instance, in terms of community engagement on energy conservation, recycling and waste reuse,” says Seng Chuan Tan.

Firstly, in work environments women tend to be good communicators and to adopt collaborative approaches when exploring solutions to problems. Secondly, women play a vital role as climate ambassadors in and around their homes, especially in the rural areas of Asia, Africa and South America, by promoting recycling, energy efficiency and other environmental practices that can lead to better climate resilience at the micro-level.

Action is needed to empower women in rural areas to extend their leadership role outside the household and into the community, the report stresses. Demonstration projects made and maintained by women could, for example, serve as skill development centres and best practice cases.

Similar empowerment initiatives are needed on the labour market. The report suggests raising gender balance awareness within existing organisations like the Association of Southeast

SIX KEY SUGGESTIONS FROM THE WORLD ENGINEERS SUMMIT:

1 Engage the financial sector more in climate change adaptation.

2 Businesses should implement self-regulatory schemes, for instance, via clusters.

3 Engineering companies should focus their research on technologies that have large-scale potential, such as deriving biodiesel from algae.

4 Multinational companies should enforce global management systems to align environmental standards, among other things.

5 Climate change mitigation should be one of every company’s key performance indicators.

6 Empowering more women – for instance, by encouraging them to study engineering – could have a direct effect on climate resilience building.

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to stimulate a radical move to low-carbon transformation rather than a slow adjustment,” Björn-Ola Linnér says, adding that ambitious voluntary standards do more than bring down emissions and showcase new technologies:

“For the public these standards are also a strong symbolic act showing that important actors in society are acknowledging the seriousness of climate change and taking their responsibility to complement what government regulations can achieve.”

In any case, Pope Francis believes that – symbolic or not, mandatory or not – urgent action is needed:

“The effects of the present imbalance can only be reduced by our decisive action – here and now,” he said in his June 2015 manifesto on Climate Change.

The WFEO will be presenting the report at the event “Turning Words into Action – A Sectoral Approach” on 8 December, 2015, during the COP21 in Paris. Co-hosts include the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) and UNESCO. Asian Nations (ASEAN), rolling out mentorship

programmes or perhaps even modifying project terms of reference (ToR):

“For all projects funded by financial institutions, it could be worded into the ToR to consider the role of women in building climate resilience,” states the report.

THE POPE CALLS FOR ACTION

In general, the report stresses that although governments should take the lead in the struggle against climate change, the business sector should and can be a vital catalyst in creating the climate-resilient solutions of tomorrow. For instance, cross-industry clusters that impose self-regulatory schemes on key industries could be established – like the RE100 initiative, in which influential companies like Nestlé, Ikea and Nike have committed to setting goals for their use of renewable energy.

As state-led initiatives by most accounts will not suffice on their own, industry initiatives like these are crucial if we want to limit global warming to a maximum of two degrees, believes climate policy expert professor Björn-Ola Linnér from the University of Colorado and Linköping University’s Centre for Climate Science and Policy Research in Sweden.

“Voluntary standards by businesses can be a vital contribution, provided they are geared

ENGINEERING FIRST-MOVERS

• With logistic costs much higher in Asia than in Europe and the USA, Green Freight Asia is a cluster organisation dedicated to lowering fuel consumption on freight operations across the Asia-Pacific region. Member companies can aspire to attain four degrees of green certification, depending on their CO2 reduction commitments.

• In spring 2015, Dutch-British company Unilever revealed that its factories had saved more than one tonne of carbon since 2008 by reducing energy consumption 20% – for a total cost savings of EUR 244 million.

• Bayer AG, a German multinational chemical and pharmaceutical company, has developed a risk management database and “risk matrix” that the company uses to evaluate and prioritise climate-related risks over a 10-20-year planning horizon.

“Voluntary standards by businesses can be a vital contribution.”

Björn-Ola LinnérProfessor, Water and Environmental Studies,Linköping University, Sweden


Seng Chuan Tan

In a career spanning four decades, Seng Chuan Tan – or SC as he is known among colleagues – has delved into almost every engineering

discipline available to him since his graduation from the National University of Singapore’s Faculty of Civil Engineering in 1983: from buildings to power generation to infrastructure projects like Singapore’s Deep Tunnel Sewerage System and environmental management.

More recently, in his new position as Regional Managing Director for Asia-Pacific at Ramboll Environ in Singapore, SC Tan has moved on to sustainable development and climate change solutions.

“To integrate environmental quality into hardcore engineering and thereby develop sustainable solutions has become a big motivation for me,” says the Singaporean engineer, who also manages to find time to be active in professional organisations like the WFEO and APEC Engineers.

“I wanted to give something back to the engineering community and hopefully encourage younger generations to study engineering. I see that we as an engineering community can share many things with the developing countries, and if you work as a group, the contribution is just more powerful.”

PORTRAIT

A DIVERSE CAREER HITS A NEW HIGH

By Morten Lund

Seng Chuan Tan will be the man presenting the conclusions from the World Engineers Summit at COP21. Integrating environmental needs with clever engineering is a key motivation for him.

SC Tan’s professional passion for the environment is also reflected in one of his main hobbies. An avid photographer, he enjoys taking pictures of nature and thus – as he puts it - documenting the environmental impacts on our globe.

17

CLIMATE FINANCING

NEWROADS TO

Stalemate at COP15 in Copenhagen, 2009: although

some climate financing was promised, the summit came to

a disappointing end.


“Around the world we see that cities are the drivers of progress, but this progress is being hampered and hindered at national level.”

At a climate solutions conference hosted by the City of Copenhagen in the fall of 2015, Johanna Partin discussed her hope that COP21 and other future climate negotiations will give local players the binding support they need in obtaining resources to move forward.

Thus far, however, progress in the UN negotiations and on national levels has come in slow motion, so city decision makers are turning to alternative financing methods, such as foundations, city networks, the private sector and, most recently, green bonds. Beyond the usual bond features, these bonds provide additional benefits to cities and investors.

In Seattle, for instance, the regional transit authority, Sound Transit, has issued more than USD 900 million in green bonds to implement a sustainable transformation of the bus and train system.

Green bonds differ from traditional bonds in that they undergo an independent vetting process aimed to ensure the funding goes to environmentally friendly projects. Since 2007, financial institutions like the European Investment Bank (EIB), the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) have stimulated an increasing amount of investment in green bonds. The market is growing exponentially, with USD 37 billion in green bonds being issued worldwide in 2014, a development backed by growing commitment from utility companies, city network groups, philanthropic organisations and government agencies.

Green bonds can result in increased awareness, compared to traditional bonds, and ultimately green growth. This can explain the increasing interest from the private sector. In November 2015,

How much does it cost to save the world? It may seem in bad taste or apocalyptic to ask this question, yet the growing impacts

of climate change are making finding its answer alarmingly relevant. Lives are being lost, physical infrastructure is crashing, the gap between rich and poor is widening, and economies are faltering.

Reshaping the various sectors of society, such as infrastructure and energy systems, into a more resilient form does not come cheap. Developed countries have agreed to support poor nations in their efforts to reduce emissions and adapt to climate change. With this aim in mind, the UN has established a Green Climate Fund (GCF) to channel much of the USD 100 billion required to advance this global paradigm shift, but only USD 10.2 billion has been mobilised in public funds so far.

The International Energy Agency has stressed the need for a stronger financial commitment. The organisation has slapped an annual price tag of USD 1 trillion towards 2050 on the investment required to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius worldwide.

Meanwhile, the cost of doing nothing is even more daunting. From a public-sector perspective, the potential value losses of a future with 6 degrees Celsius of warming are projected at USD 43 trillion in present value, or 30% of current assets, according to a 2015 report from The Economist Intelligence Unit.

BARRIERS MAKE CITIES LOOK FOR ALTERNATIVES

The limited public commitment illustrates the magnitude of the financial barriers to action and the immediate demand for cities to find alternative funding methods, according to Johanna Partin, Director of the Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance (CNCA). As the leader of a network of cities committed to ambitious long-term carbon reduction goals, she has seen tremendous progress at corporate and local government levels:

Putting a price on an uncertain future is a delicate task for nations and cities alike. The costs of climate action and inaction continue to top the political agenda, but the lack of public funding is making cities turn to new and alternative ways of financing long-term solutions.

By Jesper Toft Madsen

“Environmental issues have become increasingly relevant to our clients and our investors, and have become core to our business.”

Kyung-Ah ParkHead of Environmental Markets,Goldman Sachs

19

the Goldman Sachs Group Inc. announced that the New York-based investment bank had almost quadrupled its targets for financing or investments in clean-energy projects by 2025, amounting to USD 150 billion.

“Environmental issues have become increasingly relevant to our clients and our investors, and have become core to our business,” said Kyung-Ah Park, head of Goldman Sachs’ Environmental Markets Group, in the statement.

“We are leveraging the talents of our people and the breadth of our businesses to facilitate the transition to a low-carbon future and promote sustainable economic growth.”

BEYOND THE FINANCIAL BENEFITS

Green bonds have also become attractive for public and private investors because the benefits of the projects they finance support both reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and society’s broader development. This is a decisive factor in the funding process at city and regional

levels, according to Henrik Stener Pedersen, Director of Growth & Planning at Ramboll Management Consulting.

“Cities need to understand the full costs and benefits of action and inaction. The cost of doing

Waves from the remnants of hurricane Patricia pound the beach in Toronto, October 29, 2015.DESTRUCTIVE STORMS

MOTIVATE PRIVATE INVESTMENTS IN TORONTO

The two worst storms in Toronto’s recent history have cost Canada’s largest city more than USD 1.7 billion in total. The shattering losses and costs of inaction have motivated more than 50 public, private and non-profit organisations to join the WeatherWise Partnership, Toronto‘s response to more extreme rain, snow, wind and temperatures.

Convened in 2011 by the City of Toronto and CivicAction, a business-oriented NGO, the multisectoral action group identifies risks associated with extreme weather in the region and prioritises areas for action and investment by businesses, communities, organisations and governments.

To date, the initiative has resulted in a range of studies and assessments within such priority areas as electrical system risks, critical infrastructure interdependencies and engineering vulnerabilities within roads, drainage and housing.

The partnership drives the electrical sector in Canada, and the preliminary results have led to resilience actions and sustainability improvements, including the instalment of basement backflow preventers and window well guards to reduce flood risks as well as the use of cool, reflective materials on roofs to reduce urban heat island effects.

Source: City of Toronto.

“The cost of doing nothing is measured not only in material damages but also in lost investments, competencies and – in the worst case – lives.”

Henrik Stener PedersenDirector, Ramboll Management Consulting


nothing is measured not only in material damages but also in lost investments, competencies and – in the worst case – lives. Therefore, decision makers should apply a holistic approach when analysing the economic, social and environmental consequences for all stakeholders involved,” he says.

As an economic expert, Henrik Stener Pedersen is helping cities analyse climate investments, which he believes must serve more than one purpose to be attractive:

“Investments must be directed at energy and transport infrastructure, climate adaptation, cloudburst mitigation and blue-green infrastructure that reduce CO2 emissions and enhance quality of life. Only by designing multipurpose solutions can we support long-term, sustainable development.”

A city that has won international recognition by applying this integrated approach is Copenhagen. The Danish capital has developed an ambitious climate plan, for which it was named the European Green Capital in 2014, and Johanna Partin highlights the political courage the city has shown

in aiming to become completely fossil-free by 2050. Financing remains a barrier, but focusing on added benefits could prove a game changer.

Jørgen Abildgaard, Executive Climate Project Director of the City of Copenhagen, argues that a city needs a system that allows knowledge sharing between cities and companies, and a new financial vehicle.

“Finding financing for this transformation is running into a lot of problems. We need financial

Cities and companies are drivers of progress, says Johanna Partin, Director of the Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance (CNCA). The members are committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% by 2050.

Waves from the remnants of hurricane Patricia pound the beach in Toronto, October 29, 2015.

43 trillion US dollarsTHE POTENTIAL VALUE LOSSES OF A FUTURE WITH 6°C OF WARMING Source: The Economist Intelligence Unit

21

systems that invite cities to invest massively in infrastructure and other climate solutions. In Copenhagen, we look at secondary benefits. For instance, if you can pinpoint the health benefits of a project, you have an argument to bring to the negotiation table,” said Jørgen Abildgaard during the climate solutions conference in Copenhagen.

THE COST OF INACTION INSPIRES CITIES TO ACT

From 2010 to 2011, Copenhagen was hit by three destructive cloudbursts, the third one causing USD 1.18 billion in damage. An economic analysis of these climate events estimated that the costs of inaction would triple in 100 years, so Copenhagen included cloudburst mitigation in its climate plan, thus aiming to protect the city and use water as a recreational urban resource.

In the Middle East, the megacity of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, has also found the cost of doing nothing to be an incentive for investment. An

environmental degradation study by Ramboll shows that Jeddah will lose 2-4% of its annual GDP unless something is done to address rapid population growth, water scarcity and pollution.

To meet the challenges and improve public life, Ramboll has developed an environmental and social masterplan. A team of 40 specialists has conducted in-depth studies, including environmental impact assessments and cost-benefit analyses, to help resolve current and future environmental and socio-economic problems.

The multidimensional plan will serve as a decision makers’ guide, thus paving the way for Jeddah to become a model for sustainable development in Saudi Arabia.

A study showed that the cost of doing nothing about Jeddah’s environmental problems would reach a staggering 2-4% of the megacity’s total GDP, or EUR 1-2 billion annually.

CLIMATE ACTION CAN:

• Prevent 12,000 deaths from extreme heat and cold, representing USD 200 billion in savings to the American economy alone by 2100.

• Stop 720 to 2,200 bridges from becoming structurally vulnerable, representing an estimated savings of USD 1.1-1.6 billion by the end of the century.

• Prevent USD 50 million to USD 6.4 billion in adaptation expenditures on urban drainage systems across the USA.

Source: US Environmental Protection Agency, 2015.

PUTTING A PRICE ON CARBONOngoing political negotiations are expected to result in an international agreement to limit global warming to 1.5-2 degrees Celsius, but nations will have to define their own CO2 reduction targets. A large chunk of the USD 100 billion that will flow to developing countries will also have to derive from private contributions, for which reason the Green Climate Fund (GCF) has set up a Private Sector Facility.

Towards 2018, the GCF will provide up to USD 200 million to help micro, small and medium-sized companies working on climate projects. And supporting their efforts is crucial, says Johanna Partin, Director of the Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance (CNCA):

“The most important thing to come out of negotiations is putting a price on carbon. Larger companies make fabulous commitments, but the smaller ones are concerned about the costs. We need to start getting on a pathway to a global price on carbon that makes sense.”

Her claim is backed by The Economist Intelligence Unit, which concludes that “without an appropriately functioning pricing mechanism it is incredibly difficult for climate risks to be addressed and for capital to be effectively allocated.”


HOW AND WHERE CAN CITIES GAIN INSPIRATION FROM EACH OTHER?

“Climate changes are not restricted by administrative barriers or geographical borders.

Networks like C40 (Cities Climate Leadership Group, ed.) represent a great opportunity for cities to exchange ideas, facilitate knowledge and copy solutions – from finance and planning to climate adaptation, water, energy, waste and transport.”

CAN THE WORLD’S MEGACITIES LEARN FROM SMALL DANISH COMMUNITIES?

“The Compact of Mayors initiative has created a common platform for cities to measure and

report on emissions. For the first time, decision makers will have access to a comprehensive overview of comparable climate data, and by following the development over time, a city official in a small Danish town can learn how a project works in an Asian city with a multimillion population and vice-versa, because they report by the same protocol. Danish municipalities are

among the global frontrunners, and the new platform enables them to export their expertise to cities that have only just begun their carbon reduction journey.”

HOW CAN CITIES BREAK DOWN FUNDING BARRIERS?

“Financing takes relatively little effort as long as you consider carefully how to bring

different sectors together and have the courage to think holistically across disciplines. In a new partnership, we’ve brought four municipalities, utility companies, engineers, architects and urban planners together in climate adaptation projects that are better and cheaper than what they could have achieved on their own. The projects do not just make the four cities more resilient – they also serve recreational purposes that make the cities more joyful to live in.”

COLLABORATE

The Compact of Mayors is the world’s largest collaborative effort to measure and reduce carbon emissions. 230 cities have already joined, and Realdania, a Danish philanthropic organisation, is striving to get all 98 of Denmark’s municipalities on board. Realdania CEO Jesper Nygård explains how cities can learn from each other if they are brave enough to collaborate. By Jesper Toft Madsen

CLEVER CITIESJesper Nygård

23

THE CLIMATE-FRIENDLY CITYIt is possible to achieve economic growth while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions significantly. Copenhagen has done it: Here are four examples of climate actions in the Danish capital that are also cost-effective. On the following pages we will take a closer look at what cities can gain from climate adaptation and mitigation.

Sources: London School

of Economics and Political Science,

Copenhagen Municipality et al.

WASTE-TO-ENERGY

107%ENERGY EFFICIENCY* = THE WORLD’S MOST EFFICIENT WASTE-TO-ENERGY PLANT *Based on lower calorific value

GREEN TRANSPORT

70%MORE CYCLISTS SINCE 1990

40%OF COMMUTERS USE BIKES TO GET TO AND FROM WORK; AROUND 25% USE CARS

FROM 1994 TO 2010:

GROWTHUP 25%+GREENHOUSE

GAS EMISSIONSDOWN 40%Copenhill

WILL RECOVER ENERGY FROM 560,000 TONNES OF WASTE ANNUALLY


CLOUDBURST ADAPTATION

44 million €SAVINGS ON AN URBAN LAKE AND GREEN STREETS SOLUTION COMPARED TO A TRADITIONAL ENGINEERING SOLUTION (AN UNDERGROUND STORMWATER PIPE)

DISTRICT HEATING

75 million m2FLOOR AREA IN GREATER COPENHAGEN SUPPLIED WITH HEAT (OF WHICH 55% IS IN THE MUNICIPALITY OF COPENHAGEN)

98%OF COPENHAGEN’S 580,000 RESIDENTS ARE SUPPLIED WITH DISTRICT HEATING

30-40%OF STORMWATER WILL BE DIVERTED AWAY FROM THE SEWER SYSTEM

25

TO HOLISM

FROM SILO MENTALITY

Radical changes await our cities as temperatures and water levels rise, and more people migrate to urban areas. To maintain and develop our current way of life, we have to start preparing our cities for future challenges. We need to replace patchwork solutions with all-inclusive masterplans, establishing new partnerships in the process.

By Ina Johanne Mønsted

live. We need to establish strong partnerships, both public and private, to get these important conversations aligned and create long-term solutions for our cities,” says Malik Benjamin, an architecture professor at the Florida International University and a tour participant.

CHANGES REQUIRING ACTION

By 2050 the number of people living in urban areas will have climbed from 54% to 66% of the world’s population. At the same time, a growing middle class is demanding a higher quality of

E yes were squinted and cameras flashed when a group of American civic leaders and professors toured Copenhagen one

late-September day 2015. A rare sight indeed met passers-by at Cirkelbroen, Copenhagen’s new rotating bridge: 27 decision makers crossing the bridge in twos on matching rental bikes.

The group had arranged the four-day study tour to Copenhagen to learn from the city’s success in implementing green initiatives as a municipal-level growth strategy.

“If we don’t prepare our cities, any sort of climate change is going to destroy the way we


life. This increases the risk of resource scarcity, pollution and other environmental problems. Climate change also poses risks – and demands solutions.

Preparing a city for the future is a comprehensive and expensive process. But the

costs of not adapting can be even greater. Taking this view, Jeddah, a Saudi Arabian city with 3.5 million inhabitants, implemented a masterplan, designed by Ramboll, that not only had potential to save the city EUR 1-2 billion annually but also improved its water and air quality, established an effective waste management system and created green, recreational areas within the city.

Henrik Seiding, Executive Director of Ramboll Management Consulting, emphasises that a masterplan must incorporate a variety of social offerings to attract the right people and businesses to a city.

In Denmark the municipalities of Copenhagen and Frederiksberg have joined forces with Ramboll and other advisors on a plan to safeguard the Danish capital against cloudbursts and heavy rainfall. Some of the excess water will be retained locally for recreational areas, while cloudburst boulevards with high kerbstones will lead stormwater away efficiently and quickly.

“We have to invest in making our cities resilient to climate change, and we might as well try to maximise the value of our work and create additional value for citizens by making the local environment more attractive. If we do it right, investments in city infrastructure become

The Chicago Lakeside masterplan was more than a climate and environmental project; it also created new recreational areas for residents to enjoy. Visualisation: Skidmore, Owings & Merril LLP/MIR.

“If experts have tunnel vision, tackling problems by focusing only on their own fields, it can be hard for them to grasp the value gained from an extensive, cross-disciplinary plan.”

Søren Hansen, Project Director, Ramboll

27

partnerships help municipalities form a clear-cut vision for their cities and define specific focus areas for achieving the overall goal.

AMERICAN GUESTS INSPIRED BY HOLISM

Copenhagen’s Mayor for Technical and Environmental Affairs Morten Kabell says:

“We have focused on making Copenhagen a more liveable city by creating urban spaces that invite Copenhageners to make greater use of the city in new ways. We were the first city to be named the world’s most liveable city twice in a row, and now our focus on cycling has earned us the honour of being the world’s most bicycle-friendly city.”

Other trademarks of Copenhagen are its holistic approach to urban development and its outreach to citizens and investors, features that the American delegation also noticed on their bike tour.

“I’m very inspired by the holistic approach to cities I’ve seen here in Copenhagen. We’re definitely going to keep in mind that cities are built to be inhabited by people,” said Mayor Jeri Muoio from West Palm Beach, Florida, just before she biked across Cirkelbroen.

Holism and public involvement are also keywords that Professor Malik Benjamin believes define future urban development.

“If we want to make smart changes and add value to our cities, not just in terms of dollars and spreadsheets, but for citizens’ quality of life, we need to move to a more open, transdisciplinary conversation,” he says.

value drivers instead of cost drivers. But this necessitates that we take a holistic approach and base investment decisions on thorough societal cost-benefit analyses,” Henrik Seiding says.

AVOID THE SILO MENTALITY

Søren Hansen, Project Director of Ramboll’s Planning & Urban Design says that outstanding masterplanning is about connecting different layers of the city – in various ways.

“We need to connect sewer systems with transport networks, parks and buildings. But we also need to forge connections between the technical solutions, the governance structure and the social and cultural offerings, if we are to create a city that is not only sustainable but also liveable,” he explains.

In practice, however, working across different disciplines and sectors can be challenging. According to Søren Hansen, the silo mentality – the mindset present when the experts and officials involved in a project are only focused on their own fields of expertise – can be a major hurdle in masterplanning:

“Masterplans are best solved with one, holistic solution. If experts have tunnel vision, tackling problems by focusing only on their own fields, it can be hard for them to grasp the value gained from an extensive, cross-disciplinary plan,” he says.

In Denmark municipalities, private companies and knowledge institutions have set up several partnerships to avoid this silo mentality and accelerate green transitions in cities. These

“We need to establish strong partnerships to

create long-term solutions for our cities,” says

architecture professor Malik Benjamin (left), here on a visit to Copenhagen.

OTHER MASTERPLANNING PROJECTS

Chicago Lakeside, USAThe Chicago Lakeside masterplan, which won the Sustainia Community Award, is a visionary project using the latest technology and infrastructure to create a new way of living in Chicago’s Southeast Lakefront area. Ramboll has proposed a design concept for sustainable energy, as well as water and waste management. The new concept will reduce fossil energy use by 90% and the use of potable water by 60%. About 90% of stormwater will be infiltrated and directed to Lake Michigan, and efficient systems to sort waste will reduce landfill to 1% of total waste. The plan was completed in 2013.

Jätkäsaari, Finland Jätkäsaari is an urban district located a 5-10-minute tram ride from Helsinki. The plan is to transform the area into a natural extension of Helsinki’s city centre. The main focus is on developing sustainable solutions that cause the least disturbance to residents during the construction phase. When completed in 2025, the area will accommodate 17,000 residents and 600 workplaces.


The climate effect of light rail transit systems has been controversial: Sceptics claim that light rail systems powered by coal or

other fossil fuels will leave a carbon footprint only slightly smaller than that of cars and buses. The other concern is that light rail systems are not always designed to get people out of their cars and onto trams.

However, Peter Newman, Professor of Sustainability at the Curtin University in Perth, Australia, believes these challenges will soon be a thing of the past.

“Light rail is one of the really important solutions to climate change,” says Peter Newman.

Together with colleague Jeff Kenworthy he has just published a new book on the transformation of urban transport modes, “The End of Automobile Dependence: How Cities are Moving Beyond Car-Based Planning”:

”It is possible to make a light rail completely carbon free using tram batteries that are recharged at station stops using power generated by solar energy. We now have solar power and batteries that together are cheaper than coal-fired power in Perth, my home town.”

MUCH BIGGER POTENTIAL

In recent decades, light rail has enjoyed some success, especially in Northern Europe and the USA. The popularity of trams faded with the car revolution of the 1950s and 1960s, but engineers have since improved on them. Today’s light rail can

carry more passengers and runs faster and more quietly than the old trams.

But the potential is much bigger, argues Peter Newman, who has studied light rail systems all over the world.

“The big advantage of the system is how it can reduce car use. Light rail is a brilliant way to make cities more compact, as every developer and every business would like to build their development around the stations, their being so attractive to live and work near. Around the world the young and the wealthy are moving back into cities, where they can live and easily reach good work opportunities without having to sit in terrible traffic every day,” explains the professor.

He points out that statistically one kilometre by a light rail replaces five to six by car:

“Therefore, the system enables a carbon reduction that is around five times bigger than what engineers typically predict. It’s called transit leverage and light rail does it best.”

Ramboll is a consultant on several ongoing light rail projects, particularly in Scandinavia and Germany. One of the projects is highlighted by the Global Call for Climate Action (GCCA), a network of more than 450 NGO’s in more than 70 countries, as a driver in meeting Swedish capital Stockholm’s, climate goal of “boosting transport efficiency to cut carbon.”

SOLUTION DRIVER

Solar and other renewable energy sources can now compete with coal to supply power for light rail transit systems. At the same time, it’s getting easier to change motorists’ car use.


LIGHT RAIL: A CLIMATE

Ramboll has helped to develop light rail systems in Sweden, Finland and Denmark, among other countries. This visualisation

shows the project in Greater Copenhagen. Visualisation: Ringby-Letbanesamarbejdet.

29

DISTRICT HEATINGIS GETTING COOLER

Cogenerating heat and electricity lowers costs and carbon emissions. A new EU directive requires member countries to assess the potential of cogeneration, but its potential is also huge in the USA. One pioneering project will use the waste heat from the London Underground to produce district heating.

Warm breezes from the London Underground will be used to heat

500 homes in a pioneering project.


climate change. But only 12% of the buildings in Europe are supplied with district heating,” says Sven Werner.

OIL CRISES SPURRED INNOVATION

District heating traces back to the hot water-heated baths and greenhouses of ancient Rome, but the modern version came to Europe from the USA at the end of the 19th century, when Frederiksberg, a part of Copenhagen, needed somewhere to dump the waste from its 75,000 inhabitants. To solve the problem, in 1902 Frederiksberg built Europe’s first district heating plant, which produced not only heat but also electricity based on waste.

However, district heating remained a minor heat source until the oil price quadrupled in 1973-74. Denmark was among the many Western countries whose energy production depended almost

exclusively on imported oil, so people shivered in their homes, factories were forced to shutdown temporarily and driving was banned on Sundays.

After the crisis Denmark therefore vowed to wean itself off oil imports, determined to improve its energy security.

Fast-forward to 2015 and district heating networks are now supplying heat to a massive 64% of Danish households. And the plants also produce electricity, making them much more efficient than standard power stations.

Other Northern European countries have the same heat production potential as Denmark: A report commissioned by the Greater London Authorities has found that enough heat is wasted in London to meet 70% of the city’s heating needs. Capturing this heat and delivering it to the heat network would dramatically improve fuel bills, fuel poverty, fuel security and carbon emissions.

Crispin Matson, Country Manager of Ramboll Energy UK, agrees. He points out that using heat


For nearly 150 years, Londoners have felt a warm breeze coming from the ventilation shafts of the Underground. The engines and

braking action of Tube trains produce this excess heat, which escapes into the atmosphere.

From the winter of 2017, however, a new project headed by Ramboll will capture the waste heat from a Northern Line shaft at City Road in Islington and use heat pumps to ‘upgrade’ the heat from 18-28 degrees Celsius to approximately 80 degrees. In summer, the fans will be reversed and the heat pumps will be used to cool the air in the Underground.

Expanding the network to include this pioneering, low-carbon heat source will enable another 500 homes to be connected to the central London district heating system, raising the number from the current 850 to 1,350.

The Islington project is just one of many signs that district heating is making its global breakthrough as a technology that is both carbon-cutting and cost-effective.

“The possible market for district heating is huge,” says Sven Werner, Professor of Energy Technology at Halmstad University in Sweden and one of the world’s leading experts on district heating and cooling.

According to the ‘Heat Roadmap Europe’, a study conducted by researchers at Halmstad University, Aalborg University and the consultancy firm Ecofys, the EU countries can save at least EUR 100 billion annually – and cut carbon dramatically – by making district heating and cooling a key factor in the EU’s Energy and Climate Framework 2030. Recognising the inherent economic and environmental advantages, the EU’s new Energy Efficiency Directive requires all EU member states to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the national potential of district heating and cooling by December 2015.

“Many European cities have already adopted plans for using district heating systems to combat

“The possible market for district heating is huge. Only 12 % of the buildings in Europe are supplied with district heating.”

Sven WernerProfessor, Energy Technology Halmstad University, Sweden

31

pumps in the Islington project for secondary heat source utilisation is more carbon efficient than gas-fired combined heat and power (CHP), the usual heat source in the UK’s district energy schemes.

“We believe that the use of large-scale heat connected in this way to urban district heating systems will play a major part in decarbonising the UK’s heating energy,” says Crispin Matson.

Energy Services Manager Lucy Padfield from Islington Borough Council praises the project’s innovative nature.

“It combines the use of large-scale heat pumps from low-grade heat sources with a district heating scheme that serves both new and existing homes and council facilities,” Lucy Padfield points out.

EVEN BIGGER POTENTIAL IN THE USA

Germany is another country with a big district heating potential. And Danish companies are also beginning to win their first major contracts in the USA.

The USA relies primarily on steam heating, which can be costly to operate and maintain, as well as being a potential safety hazard.

Looking for an alternative, Bridgeport, located 100 km northeast of New York City, is now implementing a low-temperature heating and cooling system that uses waste heat from various CHP plants.

The district cooling project in Makkah is one of several initiatives expected to improve conditions during the Hajj pilgrimage. Visualisation: Umm Al Qura.

COOL IT – WITH PIPES

District cooling is becoming another hot topic, but its expansion is much harder to predict than that of district heating, says Sven Werner, Professor of Energy Technology at Halmstad University.

“In Europe, cooling demands are very small, only 6% of heating demand. There is great global potential, but few companies are actively working with district cooling. The biggest systems are found in the Middle East,” he says.

The Middle East is also the market where Ramboll has the largest presence, including a 100 MW project in Qatar and a 500 MW cooling project, among the world’s biggest, coming up in Makkah, Saudi Arabia.

Makkah will build a new, wide pedestrian pathway from the city outskirts to the Grand Holy Mosque. The project includes the construction of over 200 plots to house more than 100,000 people. As the technical advisor for the district cooling project, Ramboll is providing conceptual design, employer’s requirements and procurement assistance.

The client is Umm Al Qura Development & Construction Company, and the King Abdul Aziz Road Project is one of several initiatives expected to improve the conditions for the pilgrim activity during the Hajj.

District cooling is typically produced from a combination of electricity, surplus heat and the best available ambient cooling sources, such as cold water or air. Giant storage tanks are often used in cooling production.

“We believe that the use of large-scale heat connected in this way to urban district heating systems will play a major part in decarbonising the UK’s heating energy demand.”

Crispin MatsonHead of Energy Systems, Ramboll UK


The project, for which Ramboll is the lead designer, will not only provide cost-effective heat to Bridgeport but also reduce 70% of the city’s greenhouse gas emissions, amounting to 13,000 tonnes a year .

Another US first-mover on district heating is the Ivy League university Dartmouth. Ramboll has conducted a renewable energy study for the school, highlighting the benefits of switching the existing steam system to modern hot water.

Professor Sven Werner sees the North American potential for district heating as even bigger than the European.

“But how to exploit the great potential in Europe and the USA is also a political issue,” he says.

FACTS ABOUT DISTRICT HEATING

District heating is basically a pipe system for distributing heat generated in a centralised location to meet residential and commercial heating requirements. Cogeneration plants produce the heat from a range of energy sources, such as fossil fuels, biomass and solar energy.

District heating plants are more efficient and create less pollution than localised boilers. According to Claverton Energy Research Group, district heating using combined heat and power is the cheapest way to cut carbon emissions.

Fourth generationAccording to Professor of Energy Technology Sven Werner and other experts, second- and third-generation district heating systems need to be replaced by fourth-generation systems.

The biggest advantage of the fourth-generation system is that the water running through district heating pipes can be cooler, typically 55 degrees compared with the 90 degrees required for third-generation systems.

The lower temperatures are possible because more buildings now have floor heating instead of wall radiators.

Heat can be storedDistrict heating now offers another major advantage in the transition to greener energy: A heat pump can convert electricity from, for example, wind turbines to heat – and store the heat in giant tanks with insulating floating covers. Peter Heymann Andersen, Executive Director of Ramboll Energy, explains:

“This is especially useful on windy days when surplus energy from wind turbines might otherwise have to be sold cheaply or even given away, as Denmark has been forced to do on several occasions. Now the electricity can be converted into heat, stored, and sold instead when the heat is required. It’s more climate-friendly and cost-effective,” says Peter Heymann Andersen.

13,000TONNES

5,500TONNES

70% REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE EMISSIONS BY IMPLEMENTING BRIDGEPORT (USA) LOW- TEMPERATURE HEATING AND COOLING SYSTEM

OF LONDON’S HEATING COULD BE COVERED BY RE-USING WASTE HEAT FOR DISTRICT HEATING

70 %

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The slanting roof faces south, which gives it room for 8,300 integrated solar cells. They will produce all the power this Oslo Solar

building in the Norwegian capital needs – and a surplus of at least 2 kWh per square metre.

Oslo Solar is projected to be the most energy-producing building in Europe when finished in 2020. As the jury chairman of the Futurebuilt Urban+ international building competition in Oslo, Kristin Haug Lund from Entra, puts it:

“We aim to build an iconic and innovative building, combining the highest environmental standards, world-class architecture and urban development.”

Ramboll is the engineering consultant on Oslo Solar, which exemplifies a major trend forecast in Bloomberg’s New Energy Outlook 2015: the decentralised solar revolution.

“The biggest solar revolution will take place on rooftops. High electricity prices and cheap residential battery storage will make small-scale rooftop solar ever more attractive, driving a 17-fold increase in installations. By 2040, rooftop solar will be cheaper than electricity from the grid in every major economy, and almost 13% of electricity worldwide will be generated from small-scale solar systems,” the report concludes.

POWER TO THE PEOPLE

Developing nations will account for almost 80% of new power capacity added worldwide, with solar making the biggest gains. The combination of cheap solar panels and battery storage will in many cases bring electricity for the first time to remote, poor villages. Delivering “solar power to the people” through small systems will help weaken the historic connection between economic development and rising pollution levels, New Energy Outlook states.

In developed countries more than 75% of solar projects will involve small power systems like the

LET THESUNSHINE IN

Investment in solar power will far outweigh spending on fossil fuels in the next 25 years, according to a forecast from Bloomberg New Energy Finance. The biggest development will be in small-scale rooftop solar. For now, though, it is only sustainable in special cases.



The Oslo Solar Project aims to halve CO2 emissions from building materials

by using less steel, for example, and more low-carbon concrete.

Visualisation: Code Arkitekter.

UPSWING IN SOLAR HEATING

In June 2015 the world’s largest heat storage pit and solar heating plant was commissioned in Vojens, Denmark. The 70,000 m2 heating plant and the accompanying 203,000 m3 storage pit will cover up to 40-50% of the town’s heat consumption.

In the same month, another Ramboll solar district heating project in Graasten was included in Sustainia100, a catalogue focused on climate benefits, published by Scandinavian think tank Monday Morning. The guide features 100 sustainable and forefront solutions spanning new ways of saving water, managing waste, building homes and safeguarding our food production. The Graasten project is 100% carbon neutral and significantly lowers the price of heat.

The demand for large-scale solar heating plants is expected to grow in countries with a centralised heat supply and a progressive climate change policy. Other than in Denmark, the use of solar heating is also beginning to develop in Germany and the UK.

photovoltaic (PV) cells on the Oslo Solar rooftop, according to New Energy Outlook.

At the present cost of solar PV, local rooftop PV as an economically and environmentally sustainable solution for society remains the exception, not the rule, stresses Anders Dyrelund, Senior Market Manager in Ramboll Energy.

“The architectural design of Oslo Solar, however, allows us to consider solar PV for the entire facade. Thus, we have the opportunity to compare the cost of the solar PV facade elements with the costs of similar elements without solar. In such cases the additional cost of using solar can be so low that even today it is, overall, sustainable for society,” Anders Dyrelund says.

However, the most sustainable use of solar PV and batteries is not on buildings connected to the grid, but for the 20% of the world’s population that are off the grid. They can benefit from the

low voltage direct current (LVDC) produced by solar energy and batteries to power LED lighting, computers, televisions and other modern, low-energy devices, Anders Dyrelund points out.

“The architectural design of Oslo Solar allows us to consider solar PV for the entire facade.”

Anders Dyrelund Senior Market Manager, Ramboll Energy

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F rom 2016 most ships docking at Avedøre Power Station will no longer carry coal but wood pellets instead.

The Avedøre plant, located just south of Copenhagen, supplies district heating to more than 200,000 households in the Greater Copenhagen area and power to meet the annual consumption of 1.3 million households. The plant is making the transition to biomass, a move that will reduce its CO2 emissions by about one million tonnes per year.

The switch from fossil fuels to renewables is one of the world’s largest scale bioconversions of a heat or power plant to date, heralding a trend that is likely to pick up speed in the coming years.

“The project’s scale, energy efficiency and safety requirements demonstrate that Denmark has a headstart on using biomass as a resource,” says Thomas Dalsgaard, Executive Vice President of DONG Energy, which owns the Avedøre Power Station.

“We have to keep developing the experience we gain and make our solutions more attractive to other countries in their transition to greener energy,” he continues.

Forbes Magazine’s energy expert, Ken Silverstein, agrees. In a recent article titled

“Biomass Breathing New Life into Coal Plants”, he concludes that “large-scale power facilities are determined to make the technology both workable and profitable.”

Biomass also has its critics. Their greatest concern is that cutting down a greater number of trees will leave fewer to absorb carbon emissions.

GREENING ENERGY PLANTS

Heat and power plants are being converted from coal to biomass, especially in Northern Europe. President Obama’s Clean Power Plan will probably enhance the transition process in the USA. However, going green also poses its challenges.


“The biomass process involves more tonnes of material, so we had to redesign the entire transport system.”

Jacob ThysgaardChief Project Manager, Ramboll


The Avedøre power station was built in 1990. Once primarily coal-fired, over time the plant has increasingly used gas and biomass as fuel.

Newly planted trees, meanwhile, are unable to absorb carbon as rapidly as older ones.

The green NGO World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) maintains that since biomass is a limited resource, it must be produced sustainably. To this end, governments should primarily invest in expanding other renewable energy technologies like wind and solar power, according to Hanne Jersild, Senior Advisor on Climate & Energy Policy at WWF.

However, she emphasises that some countries may need to use biomass during the transition period.

“This is why it makes sense in Denmark to convert the large coal-fired plants to biomass as we transition to a fossil-free energy system,” says Hanne Jersild.

CO-FIRING THE MOST IMMEDIATE STEP

Most large-scale bioconversions are taking place in Northern Europe, especially Denmark, the UK and the Netherlands. The EU has issued non-binding criteria for biomass, because, as the EU Commission writes on its website, “increasing the use of biomass in the EU can help diversify

Europe’s energy supply, create growth and jobs and lower greenhouse gas emissions.”

The USA also boasts some bioconversion examples. According to the US Department of Energy, the co-firing of biomass and fossil fuels is the most immediate step that utilities can take to cut their carbon dioxide emissions.

Bioconversion features in President Obama’s Clean Power Plan, which calls for a 32% reduction in carbon emissions from the power sector from 2005 levels by 2030. If adopted, the plan will encourage a shift away from coal-fired electricity toward greener energy, thus giving utilities the impetus to invest even more heavily in wind and solar energy as well as other renewables like biomass.

Thus far, bioconversions in the USA have typically involved projects that modify coal-fired boilers to burn wood chips as well. Energy

30%AVEDØRE PRODUCES 30% OF THE POWER CONSUMPTION ON ZEALAND (2.2 MILLION

INHABITANTS)

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fire erupts, the silos have also been redesigned to direct the flames where they cannot harm people or the construction.

THE LIFETIME IS EXTENDED

Another challenge is to retrieve as much energy from wood pellets as from coal.

“The biomass process involves more tonnes of material, so we had to redesign the entire transport system – bearing in mind that the dust had to be kept at a minimum, as it can also cause explosions and fires,” Jacob Thysgaard explains.

When the bioconversion is completed, the Avedøre Power Station will have the same energy capacity with pellets as it once had with coal. By utilising the excess heat from power production for district heating, the plant achieves an overall energy conversion efficiency of up to 97%, resulting in better fuel economy and a lower CO2 emission per produced kWh.

As part of the bioconversion, the plant’s lifetime will be extended by 15 years, thus enabling it to operate until 2033 instead of 2018. Extending the lifetime of a plant saves both time and money. In Europe, building a new thermal power plant typically costs about EUR 700 million, while modernising and refurbishing an existing plant runs to just under EUR 150 million. Moreover, an existing plant takes less than two years to refurbish, while a new plant can take as long as five years to construct.

companies see co-firing technology as the most economical and easier to use than bioconversions that completely exclude coal.

The bioconversion at Avedøre Power Station certainly poses challenges, but the hurdles can be overcome, stresses Jacob Thysgaard, Chief Project Manager at Ramboll Energy. DONG Energy asked Ramboll to handle the conversion at the Avedøre and Studstrup power stations.

The most pressing problem is that wood pellets can spontaneously combust and explode if wet. So they are kept dry inside gigantic silos, safely protected against the Scandinavian climate. In the unlikely event that the pellets get wet and a

MORE EFFICIENT ENERGY PLANTS

Currently, approximately 85% of the world’s energy consumption comes from fossil-fuelled power plants. The plants face the challenge of having to reduce their environmental footprints, and the global challenge is to ensure that new and existing power plants are as energy efficient as possible.

In Denmark, optimising existing coal-fired power plants is one solution that significantly improves efficiency rates. The efficiency rate of the average power plant is below 40%. The Nordjylland Power Station in Denmark, however, uses 94% of the energy in fuel, exploiting high pressure, extreme heat and optimised processes to attain the highest coal fuel efficiency rate in the world. Like Avedøre, Nordjylland is a Combined Heat and Power (CHP) station that is close to a big city, so the surplus heat can be used for district heating.

To keep pace with the green transition and other developments, energy plants must often also be capable of swiftly changing between the fuels that are currently politically and economically viable, whether coal, natural gas, oil, straw or wood pellets.

1 M tonnesAMOUNT OF SAVED CO2 PER YEAR AS RESULT OF

THE BIOCONVERSION AT AVEDØRE


Until now, no waste-to-energy plant in Denmark has used heat pumps to boost flue gas condensation and recover heat. No one

believed it could be done cost-effectively. However, the design team at Ramboll Energy had other ideas.

“We thought that if we could minimise the energy that drives the heat pump while also maximising energy output from the process, it would pay off,” explains Tore Hulgaard, Technical Manager at Ramboll Energy.

Traditionally, the flue gas condensation process at waste-to-energy plants involves three steps, during which a so-called wet scrubber removes pollutants from the gas.

In the third step the scrubber can recover heat by using a heat exchanger to create direct condensation from water that is approximately 50 degrees Celsius – the temperature of the water when it returns from the district heating system.

Recovering heat when the scrubbing temperature is below the district heating temperature requires a heat pump, which recovers the heat by means of a cold circuit – the reverse of a refrigerator. This process, the fourth step, is usually highly energy-intensive and thus results in considerable electricity loss.

But Tore Hulgaard and his colleagues figured that if you built the turbine system to extract the steam from the middle of it, where the temperature is still just enough to drive the heat pump, less electricity would be lost.

They also discovered that the heat pump could cool the flue gas down to 25 degrees Celsius. That produces 5-6 kWh of heat for every kWh of power put into the system.

“These optimisation techniques boost energy production by around 20%, which probably makes the system the most energy efficient of its kind in the world. At the same time, this fourth step removes even more pollution from the gas,” Tore Hulgaard points out.

These facts and figures convinced the owners of Copenhill, a waste-to-energy plant currently under construction in Copenhagen. They installed Ramboll’s system earlier this year, and other waste-to-energy plants are following suit.

“It’s good not only for the plant owners but also for society as a whole: You could argue that the system is resource efficient and carbon neutral, because no additional fuel is used to recover the heat from the flue gas condensation,” Tore Hulgaard says.

WE CRACKED IT!

Tore Hulgaard

HEAT-PUMP-DRIVEN CONDENSATION IS NOW COST-EFFECTIVE AT WASTE-TO-ENERGY PLANTSBy Michael Rothenborg

About this columnIn “We cracked it”, a new series

in Response, a Ramboll employee explains a difficult engineering,

design or planning problem – and how it was solved.

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